World Bank: Reduction of Extreme Poverty

According to the World Bank, developing nations have already met the Millennium Development goal to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Martin Ravallion, director of the World Bank research group has said that , "We are now confident that the developing world as a whole has reached the first of the Millennium Goals and reached that goal in 2010 despite the crisis". Eastern Europe, the Middle East, East Asia (including India and China) are all regions that have achieved this Millennium Development goal.

Among the regions that have reduced their poverty rates China, the Middle East, and North Africa specifically have made great progress. In 2008, there were 660 million fewer people living under $1.25 a day in China. While in the Middle East and North Africa, the 16.5 million who lived on less than $1.25 a day in 1981 was reduced to 8.6 million people in 2008.

While progress is still necessary, the research done by the World Bank reveals that our international community has already made great strides in global poverty reduction.

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: Huffington Post

A Ugandan Midwife's Mission to Save Lives

Another miracle is brought into this world in the Katine village of North East Uganda.  New mother, Priscilla Alupo, smiles from ear to ear as she eagerly shows off her new son, George, to visitors.

Esther Madudu, one of three midwives at Tiriri health center, helped to deliver George along with the births of four other babies all in a single night's shift.  Midwife for 11 years, Madudu, 31, is passionate about what she does.  "I love talking about the mothers I help deliver.  We deliver 45 to 50 mothers every month, so I save 45 to 50 mothers and babies a month."  During her time at Tiriri, no mother has died during childbirth.

The problem here lies in the condition of the center.  Giving birth at night is a bit difficult with no electricity. So how do these women overcome this hurdle?  Well, they use the light cast by mobile phones, which are held in their mouths to ensure the beams are directed where needed.  The damage that has taken place eight years ago to the Katine village has left the health center no power supply, but fortunately their water source is still in tact.

Scheduled to attend the Women's Forum Global meeting, in Deauville, France, Madudu will address delegates about her work and the health challenges faced by women in Africa.  With the launch of her campaign, Up for African Mothers, coming up, the severity of this continent's high maternal mortality rates will hopefully raise the much needed political attention.  Looking on a larger scale, it goes without saying that the millennium goals to reduce death rates among women and children in these poor countries will not be met by 2015 if the sufficient funds aren't received.

Here are some statistics to think about:

• An estimate of 358,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth every year due to lack off access to basic medical care or trained staff
• Majority of deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa
• 70% of women don't receive prenatal care and half of all deliveries take place at home without medical assistance

In a rural village like Katine, the wages are low and the housing is inadequate.  Yet, these factors are looked past.  "When you love your work and want to save lives of mothers, you go there.  That's why I stay in Tiriri.  The pay is little, but God pays me because I know I have saved lives," explains Madudu.  Within the next few years, she will travel the world to promote the African mother's campaign.

"My dream was to save lives. When you hear a baby cry on delivery, everyone begins to rejoice."

- Esther Madudu, Midwife and Advocate

-Georisa Chang

Source: The Guardian

Perpetuating Poverty through Child Marriage

One of the biggest obstacles facing the implementation of the UN Millenium Goals is the proliferation of child marriage.

Currently, there are around 50 million child brides worldwide. This number is expected to increase two-fold in the next decade. In Mali, Niger, and Chad, 70 percent of girls are forced to marry.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child considers marriage before 18 a fundamental human rights violation. This is due to the fact that young girls who are forced into marriage rarely continue on with their education. As a result, they are thrown in dependent relationships with their spouses and their spouses' family and lose ability to contribute economically to the household.

Studies have proven that the more education a girl can receive, the less likely that she will become a child bride. However, distance of schools and the lack of funds make education a luxury for many girls living in poor conditions.

The reasons why communities marry out their daughters at a young early age range from trying to cement alliances between families, to insuring that virginity and therefore the price of the bride remain intact, and the need of financial resources to eliminate familial debt.

Back in 2010, the Senate unanimously passed the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Marriage Act, which would make child marriage transparent in an annual human rights report from nations, but it was blocked by the House stating that abortions would become more rampant.

By decreasing the prevalence of child marriage, not only will aid become more effective, it will also start to change beliefs about the roles of women and girls in society.

Use your voice! Call your representatives to let them know about issues that you are passionate about.

-Chelsey Dambro

Source: TrustLaw

Gates Foundation's New Sanitation Program Focus: The Toliet

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced recently that it will invest more money into improving sanitation services in poor countries around the world.

$42 million dollars will be added to an ever increasing budget that aims to encourage innovation and focus on a basic human need that is oftentimes overlooked. Even the original eight Millennium Goals drawn up by the UN back in 2000 did not include improvement of sanitation.

However, sanitation is a big problem. An estimated 2.6 billion people lack access to safe sanitation. One billion people defecate openly. Diarrhea is the number one killer of children in Africa, which can easily change if sanitary practices are improved. If we keep going at our current rate, by 2049 only 77 percent of the world population will have flushable toilets.

"No innovation in the past 200 years has done more to save lives and improve health than the sanitation revolution triggered by the invention of the toilet. But it did not go far enough. It only reached one-third of the world. What we need are new approaches, new ideas. In short, we need to reinvent the toilet," said Sylvia Matthews Burwell recently at a conference in Rwanda.

Already progress has been made on innovating the toilet along with other new sanitation technologies. Designs are in progress to develop waterless toilets that don't rely on sewer connections. Companies are coming up with hygienic ways to empty pits and process waste.

To make sanitation practices worthwhile, new technology has to be both relevant to the community and implementable in a cheap fashion. Ultimately, improving conditions at the very basic level of community life, such as sanitation, will impact other needs that operate at a higher level such as education, health, and economic standing.

-Chelsey Dambro

Source: Guardian.co.uk

The UN: Social Benefits Arise From Investing In Poverty

Despite the global financial crisis and the austerity measures taken as a result, the Deputy Secretary General, Asha-Rose Migiro stressed that development gains need to be protected. Migiro argued for the importance of the Millennium Development Goals in her address to the General Assembly's Development Dialogue.

"We must look for multiplier effects wherever we can. And none is more dramatic, none is more proven, than investments in health and of women and children," she stated. And she couldn't be more dead on. Social benefits arise and progress is generated as a result of investment in poverty reduction programs.

Migiro stressed the importance of these programs. "Healthy women deliver and bring up healthy children who then attend school and become a part of a healthy work force that creates a prosperous society."

Last year partner countries committed to the development goals pledged more than $40 billion for the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health. It is clear that the international community has mobilized greater commitment towards the MDG goals in recent years. However, it was acknowledged by General Assembly President Joseph Deiss, that despite the positive developments, many low income and developing countries have not been touched.

This begs the question of whether the UN will meet the Millennium Development Goals by the target deadline of 2015?

Right now, it is impossible to tell. However, the results are clear, making tangible differences for the lives of the poor improves the society as a whole.

With the deadline fast approaching, Ms. Migiro stressed the need to look at what lays beyond 2015. "Even a decade ago, we knew that achieving the MDG's would in a sense be only half the job. We knew that there would still be a backlog of depravation. It is time to look at those numbers and at those peoples that remain in depravations and who will therefore need our attention come 2016."

"The ultimate goal is to transform economies and societies of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) so that the LDC category ceases to exist"

-Gabrielle Gurian

SOURCE: UN NEWS FEED

USAID Collaboration to Increase Corporate Volunteerism Abroad

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will be working with IBM and CDC Development Solutions to increase U.S. volunteerism abroad. This collaboration aims to increase the number of U.S. employee volunteers abroad to help provide assistance to local governments, small businesses, and civic groups in emerging markets.

This partnership will give corporations access to resources to make their projects more effective. The “Center of Excellence for International Corporate Volunteerism” (CEICV) will be established as a virtual forum for companies to share successes and practices. After a 2-year pilot period, the center will be self-sustaining and funded by membership fees or other sponsorships.

This alliance will help connect members with local governments that are most receptive to foreign assistance. In keeping track of successes and the programs that created them, corporations will not have to spend as much time redesigning and attempting to replicate successful programs. Formalizing the planning process will not only help make initiatives more strategic and useful, but can also increase the number of volunteers and their ability to contribute to initiatives.

The three key goals for the CEICV will be to enhance sustainable development efforts, help companies of all sizes expand their use of international corporate volunteer programs, and to keep track of volunteer impact in order to create the best practices for international corporate volunteer programs worldwide.

The partnership between USAID, IBM, and CDC Development Solutions will connect international corporate volunteer programs to USAID development strategies. This will help increase the impact of development fund as well as provide skills and technologies to recipients of U.S. foreign aid. “It is our hope that these resources will drive innovation and allow us to achieve a greater return on investments as we push harder toward achieving the millennium development goals," said Bambi Arellano, Counselor to USAID.

-Sami Ressler

SOURCE: PRNEWSWIRE